According to a recent CalMatters article, “Nearly 1,700 schools across the country were affected by ransomware attacks last year, according to New Zealand-based software company Emsisoft. In California, at least 26 schools have experienced a ransomware attack since 2019, often with harsh consequences: Sierra College had some systems shut down during finals week; Newhall School District’s 10 elementary schools went a week without online school during the pandemic; and UC San Francisco paid a $1.14 million ransom. ”
CalMatters spoke with over a dozen cybersecurity experts to help answer how schools and readers can help protect themselves from Ransomward. “The first step to good cybersecurity, they said, might be a mindset shift. . . . In the tech industry, this philosophy is called ‘zero trust networking.’ It’s the idea that even with VPNs, firewalls and other preventative measures, hackers can still infiltrate your networks.”
For a checklist of protective actions, see the article at https://calmatters.org/education/2021/07/ransomware-attack/